Northstar Engines and System Technical Discussion Discussion, Slight stumble, no codes in Cadillac Engine Discussion; I think I may have an electrical problems... Car ran fine, burnouts and everything. A while ago my right ABS ...

Slight stumble, no codes

I think I may have an electrical problems... Car ran fine, burnouts and everything. A while ago my right ABS sensor went out and I didn't have 1st gear because of it. I drove from central WI to Milwaukee and back and it was POURING, to the point where I was hydroplaning over 60mph. After that my car seems to misfire and stumble under high acceleration. Got the sensor replaced and a new set of BOSCH spark plug wires (had NAPA's premium wires before) and the power almost was as good as before, but then gradually it started to stumble under mid/high acceleration again, especially during gear change. The plugs are at 50k and are AC Delco. The car isn't showing any codes. When I put my foot all the way down the car accelerates as if I let off the gas slightly at random, but it still gets up and go. The weather doesn't seem to make a lot of difference, the amount of stumble is random and sometimes I can still pull as hard as when it didn't have any issues.

I cleaned the throttle body and changed the 2-year old paper air filter, not like either really helps but it was cheap and fast. Still stumbles at random times. I have a new set of ACD spark plugs but I don't want to use them unless I really have to(I plan to buy and keep a 1st-gen N* caddy before they're all gone) .Car is at 152k, clean oil. I have bald Assurance TT tires on stock rims(waiting for winter), but I think enough tire mass was lost because my speedometer is 1mph off from almost all the speed checkers

Re: Slight stumble, no codes

I didn't elaborate about the plug wires since the NAPA set worked just fine for 50k miles until my ABS went out and the rain, I may well have exposed the undercarriage to more water than it should because the bottom splashguard attached to my front bumper fell off. I'll clean the contacts on the ignition module later, do I clean it with alcohol or carb cleaner or just water and wipe it off?

Re: Slight stumble, no codes

No one carries those AC Delco wires in my area and I have to order it. It is damn near $120 for a set...more than a set of MSD wires. Now, if I go out and buy the wires and it didn't fix my problem, are you guys going to refund my money? The NAPA set of wires worked perfectly fine for 50k miles until I accidentally pulled on the wires too hard and might of broke the wires inside. To be honest I've wasted a lot of money buying parts from hearing people's advices on my car...replaced FPR and turns out the old one is perfectly fine...bought a set of 8 injectors and turns out the injectors were fine...and don't let me start on installing a stereo on my car a few years ago. The hot start issue that I have? 6 mechanics told me 6 different things but one thing in common is none of them fixed it. The Cadillac dealership wants $85 just to inspect and the guys there talks to me like I'm stupid. My bill for all the unneeded parts bought and service time is currently around $1200...

If my wires are leaking voltage then I should see arcing and hear differences in engine rpm when I spray water on the wires, but I don't. The guy who serviced my ABS sensor said some "nesting material" fell on the ground when they were working on my car, it looked like dried grass and hay. I don't have a car jack so I can't go under my car to check it out.

Re: Slight stumble, no codes

If the present wire set is not leaking voltage, no reason to change them. Hope you checked the wire connections for coil-to-plug sequence as advised in Post #2, this thread. Use any carb cleaner or brake cleaner to scrub the ICM connections and coils themselves - and remove it all from the car: a simple squirt here and there will not do it.

Just before posting this ^^ I went back through your profile and submission list and read every post you have made (OK - Most of the 20 pages........) since joining CF. I would suggest that anyone else, trying to offer you CF advice, go back and do the same in order to get a reference base for your various parts replacement problems and stereo install. If you have "wasted a lot of money" on CF advice, then let me be the first to offer my apology and inform you that you will waste no more money on my lack of advice.

Everyone in here has good intentions: it's up to you to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Re: Slight stumble, no codes

I actually left this forum a few years ago because some people here are very anti-import to the point where they're being just ignorant and racist, and I hate that.

I'm not saying anyone's wrong but at the end of the day it's money out of my pocket, so I'm being very cautious and not just run out and buy things. I do have 152k miles on the car and I drove it daily through summer and snowy winter, so it is hard for me to justify spending thousands and not knowing how long my N* is going to last(but it BETTER lasts). I've already spent $1400 on all new brakes/rotors/calipers/sway bar and a wheel bearing, and my car's currently worth less than $4500 on the bluebook. It's going to need new front struts and 4 new tires before this winter. Granted I'm never going to ditch my car unless it gets wrecked but I don't have much cash right now either. I will go clean the ICM connections tomorrow and check the ignition sequence.

I just drove it for like 20 minutes and I didn't have any stumble issues, I was chirping tires everywhere but I bet it's not going to do that next time I start her up.

Re: Slight stumble, no codes

No one carries those AC Delco wires in my area and I have to order it. It is damn near $120 for a set...more than a set of MSD wires. Now, if I go out and buy the wires and it didn't fix my problem, are you guys going to refund my money?

Disregard post #4. Don't want to be responsible for you wasting any more money and I apologize if I was responsible for any of it. Take it to a dealer and let them diagnose it.

Re: Slight stumble, no codes

Update on this... I took my ignition module apart and one of the coil packs are badly corroded on the contacts and it was all green and white(can't really see it in the picture but it's the set all the way to the right), I used a Dremel and a steel brush and got all of it off but from the amount of corrosion I'm probably better off to replace the coil pack since I can't clean the contact inside it.

I also brushed the grounding plate on the module since it looks pretty dirty also.

I also found a little bit of black gummy deposit on the spark plug terminal and cleaned them off, not sure where that came from but the car runs much better now. I will replace the entire ignition module in the near future.